Late in the first quarter of the Trail Blazers’ game Wednesday against Brooklyn, the Nets took a 16-15 lead. Portland’s answer? Go small – really small.

After a series a substitutions, Portland had 6-foot-1 Mo Williams, 6-3 CJ McCollum, 6-6 Will Barton, 6-5 Wesley Matthews and 6-10 Victor Claver on the court to close the quarter.

All this severely undersized unit did was take over the game, outscoring the Nets 13-4 to close the quarter and ignite a run that lasted the rest of the game and led to a 124-80 win before a sellout 20,015 at the Moda Center.

“We were undersized, but we did a lot of good things in that stretch and we were able to just keep going from there,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts.

Boy did they ever as the Blazers (40-18) won by their largest margin of the season and the largest margin ever in their all-time series against the Nets, which dates to 1976.

It came on a night when Portland added a fourth player to its list of injured big men, with Thomas Robinson (left patella strain) joining LaMarcus Aldridge (left groin strain), Joel Freeland (right knee sprain) and Meyers Leonard (left ankle sprain) on the sideline.

So there was Claver, a natural small forward, backing up Robin Lopez at center. And who was even playing power forward at the end of the first quarter?

“I think I was,” Matthews said. “We don’t even know. Like I said, it was AAU ball. We’re just playing basketball.”

The AAU-like roster took down the most expensive roster in the NBA (payroll of $102 million, with an additional $88 million in luxury tax), one with a combined 35 All-Star Game appearances in its starting roster.

But Blazers just staggered the Nets, holding them to a season-low 80 points.

With Aldridge out, the Blazers have gone to even more ball movement to set up easier shots and three-pointers. Portland made 13 threes on 31 attempts while scoring 56 points in the paint, a huge number for a team that had been averaging 36.8.

“I think we’ve been really moving the ball, spacing the floor, playing that way has made it easy for a lot of the guys haven’t been in the rotation for most of the season,” said point guard Damian Lillard, who finished with 14 points. “We’re just swinging the ball and attacking and playing aggressive.”

For a change, the Blazers starters didn’t carry the scoring load as Portland’s bench scored a season-high 68 points. Williams scored a season-high 21 points to become the first bench player to lead Portland in scoring this season, and Barton added 20 points and 11 rebounds for his second career double-double.

Barton credited Williams with not only helping to set up shots for him, but for keeping his morale up all season.

“He’s one of those guys that really believes in me on this team, thinks I have a lot of talent,” Barton said. “He’s always telling me, just stay with it, your time will come. It’s fun to be out there with a guy who really trusts you, just believes in you.”

Claver, who before this spate of injuries last appeared in a game on Nov. 15, made a big impact, first affecting the game with his defense as he continually kept balls alive, challenged shots, got his hands on rebounds and played solid position defense. Although playing center is not his norm, Claver said he is usually matched up against Leonard or Robinson during three-on-three matchups that the reserves hold in practice.

“Victor’s very smart, and defensively, very rarely does he make a mistake,” Stotts said. “He’s in the right place at the right time, he’s very alert, he sees the game. I thought Victor had a terrific game.”

Claver’s good play on defense bled into the other end of the court as he finally got untracked offensively, scoring 13 points and shooting 5 for 7.

“When I came on the court, we played with a lot energy playing full-court defense, and I think that moves the team to play faster, and we got some distance from that,” he said.

The Blazers had a rough patch before the All-Star break and slipped to the No. 5 spot in the Western Conference, then seemed in real trouble with Aldridge, their leading scorer and rebounder, out. But instead of sinking or just treading water, they have won four in a row, and with Houston’s loss to the Clippers on Wednesday, have retaken the No. 3 spot in the West.

“We have been extremely fortunate for 53 games to be able to start the same lineup and not really be struck by injuries,” Stotts said. “So we’re dealing with something now that a lot of teams have had to deal with from the beginning of the season. It’s just important that we figure out how we win games.”